Vitug, R. M. (2014). Increasing and sustaining the Philhealth coverage of the members of the informal economy (Unpublished master's thesis). Public Management Development Program, Development Academy of the Philippines.

Public Management Development Program Middle Managers Class (MMC) Batch 3: Class Bulawan Thesis (MMC)--Development Academy of the Philippines.

While the Philippines has accomplished notable strides in achieving universal health care, covering the members of the informal economy has always been a challenge. Given the "voluntary" nature of the members of this sector, their erratic premium payment through the years has contributed to their non-coverage. Further, capturing them individually is administratively expensive and inefficient for Philhealth. There is one identified intervention that has been implemented under the Re-Entry Project (ReP) Phase in compliance with the 3-month period of implementation: Partnership with Local Government Unit/Legislative Office and Organized Group in the enrollment of members with skills and livelihood training in partnership with civil society organization (CSOs) and government agencies. The targeted outcome of this ReP is to increase and sustain the PhilHealth coverage of the members of the Informal Economy. It was pilot-tested in the province of Tarlac and a women's cooperative, Moncada Women's Credit Cooperative. The livelihood training was meant to augment their income so that they will be able to sustain their coverage after the partial subsidy has lapsed at the end of 2014. The following deliverables has been accomplished at the end of the 3-month implementation stage: 1. One (1) Project Team created and functional; 2. Two Letters of Commitment (LOC) signed in the enrollment of Coop members; 3. 30% of the potential coverage of non-PhilHealth members of the Coop with PhilHealth coverage; and 4. 100% of Sponsored members in this project with trained livelihood skills To increase sustainability of the project, the following activities are considered under for Further Actions: 1. Monitor the application of skills and livelihood training through FGD with Coop; 2. House visit sampling of trained members, both those with livelihood and those who did not apply skills; 3. Monitor through PhilHealth membership and collection systems the number of subsidized Sponsored member sustaining their membership; 4. Collection data, problems encountered and action taken by Coop; 5. Submit final report of the results of the project to IP, Regional Vice President, Coop, CSOs and partner government agencies; and 6. Institutionalize Advocacy through Attendance to meetings of Provincial/City Cooperative Development Councils (PCDC/CCDC).